Day 2

Cat's Cradle Lesson Plan

Discussion of Thought Questions

1

How does the story of Dr. Breed's son contrast with the stories of Dr. Breed himself and Felix Hoenikker?

(5-7 minutes)

With Asa Breed and Felix Hoenikker, we see one character who believes science is an absolute good, and one who brings his creations into the world without any thought as to how they might affect humanity. Asa's son stands in direct contrast to these two men: he is moved by the destruction of Hiroshima, and realizes that scientific research is not always a good thing. As such, he decides to leave science to become a sculptor, adopting a form of creation in the wake of destruction.

Students should draw comparisons between the two Breed men in this discussion. When...

Philip Castle's story about fighting the bubonic plague with his father encapsulates one of the central tenets of Bokononism quite well. Julian realized at a certain point that he was fighting a losing battle, well aware of the irony of being a...

The day the bomb was dropped, Felix was playing with this string and inadvertently twisted it into a "cat's cradle" configuration. Newt remembers this as the first and only time that his father tried to play with him, and he remembers that Felix...